


Queensguard: An Act of Kindness

by FictionWriterD



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FictionWriterD/pseuds/FictionWriterD
Summary: 1790, and France is on the verge of revolt. The nobles seemingly refuse to help the hungry masses, save for one lady who tries to do the right thing, yet in the dangerous countryside of France she has only three guards to protect her.





	Queensguard: An Act of Kindness

1790  
Outskirts of Paris, France

In the small town of Versailles, home of the vaunted Palace of past kings of France, a large crowd of people gathered in the town square. It was quiet with only small murmurs being spoken while they seemingly waited for something to happen. Children played in the dirt at the edges of the crowd and those who could say atop carts and what furniture they could find to get a better look as a red and gold carriage followed by four horses came to a stop in the square.

The driver got out of the driver's chair and stood in front of the door of the carriage.

Meanwhile, off of the four horses that had followed the carriage came those who guarded it. Three men and a woman all dressed in red and green elegant leather and flamboyantly dressed. Like the musketeers of old they wore wide brimmed hats adorned with large feathers and matching colored half capes. At their hips they carried rapiers decorated in silver.

The driver spoke aloud, "Mesdames et messieurs, I give to you Sophia, princess of France."

He opened the door and the crowd leaned in to get a closer look. A woman who could not have been more than thirty years old stepped out dressed in an olive green dress and holding a fan in her right hand. Despite the title there was no clear evidence of this woman being a royal. No fancy jewels, no makeup that covered her face, and no servants save for the four soldiers that stood on either side of her. Her hair was also conservative, tied simply with gold ribbons into two tails unlike the extravagant looks of the much hated Queen of France. Hard to believe this woman was supposed to be related to her.

With clear blue eyes the princess looked around at the crowd before her and saw the eyes of a hungry and pessimistic populace which was like a powder keg underneath their exterior. They were on the verge of revolt and though she wasn’t supposed to have experience in such a matter, she knew a revolt could be easily sparked in these conditions.  
Thus it was dangerous for a royal to have herself in such an area, even if she had her own protection. But this royal had a plan and she was intending to go through with it. She peered back down the way she had come into the village, and there came a train of open wagons carrying her secret weapon.

The crowds started to cheer as they saw mounds of bread and food freshly brought from the Kingdom of Austria to satiate the hungry masses. The crowd soon moved excitedly to get what they could in a less than orderly fashion swamped the men working the carts to give them anything they could.

All the while Sophia and her Queensguard watched, satisfied.

The oldest man with a thin moustache and goatee was Richter Castile, the captain of the Queensguard. "May I say, princess, this charity of yours never ceases to amaze me."  
The princess was indeed proud of herself, "Thank you, Richter, though I will say it took great amounts of stern talking to my ministers in order to procure such delicacies."

Richter was dressed in blue and white, blue being the symbol of the captaincy, “I believe so, your highness."

Taking a few steps forward the princess soon watched the people taking away the food she had offered like starving children and seeing the glee at finally being given food made her happy. "It is amazing that this is the reason my sister is so hated..."

"Let them eat cake' said a certain newspaper about your sister the Queen," said the younger Guard, a man dressed in a red and white outfit similar to Richter''s except he was equipped with two rapiers.

"For clarification, Juste, my sister-in-law NEVER said that," said the Queen, feeling offended having heard that phrase again.

“My apologies, my princess, forgive me,” he said. Juste was a man just shy of twenty and unlike Richter was not born a Queensguard soldier. He was from the French countryside, a farmer’s son with dreams of serving the royal family. He got his wish just in time for a revolt to endanger them. He was an impulsive young man and from what she knew a flirtatious womanizer. A harmless womanizer. 

“I do, just please refrain from saying it again.” Said Sofia.

Two more carts of bread approached the crowd and from there the people got more than enough to feed them. The trio of guards kept a watchful eye on their charge as she went through the crowd where she was greeted with praise from the hungry mouths of children and adults. One hungry boy even grabbed the princess’ skirt and embraced her crying while thanking the royal for the food. 

The third Queensguard was dressed in light green and white, motioned to the child, “Milady, you should be wary of the peasants—“

The princess placed her hand upon the child’s head. “Cerise, it is alright.”

Cerise didn’t push the issue further. Unless one was to take a close look, Cerise Archambeau could easily pass for a young man or a boy. That was because of her short brown hair hidden under her wide brimmed hat and her height, as she was taller than Juste by at least an inch even without her shoes. There was nothing on her that betrayed her feminine traits, her uniform hid her curves well enough and unlike others of her sex her chest was hidden. The only feminine trait she ever showed was her hazel eyes, which had a softness to them that could only belong to a woman.

Eventually the child let go after thanking the princess more than once and she resumed her walk.

“Princess, we should be heading to Versailles before too long, the King will want to see you,” said Richter, ever the one to keep the princess in order and in line with formality.  
But the princess was not in a hurry to go to the palace. Though she kept her thoughts to herself about it, she personally didn’t like the high and mighty atmosphere that permeated Versailles, the nobles there made her uncomfortable with their indifference to those lesser than them.

Because she was lost in her thoughts Sophia didn’t notice the man approaching her from the front. She would have greeted him had she been in the right of mind, but then she would have stopped in fear as he drew a single shot pistol and aimed it right at her.

He shouted with anger and venom in his voice, “Die royal scum!”

At this proclamation the trap was sprung as a handful of other men armed with sabers and muskets came out of the houses and behind carts, aiming their weapons at the princess. They were about a dozen of them in number and the crowd saw a fight brewing and the crowd panicked and dispersed in a hurry. They took what they could with them and fled to their homes.

Though the trap had been set off, it took a few seconds for the Queensguard to react. Though outnumbered the trio went right into action.

Richter had already drawn his rapier and with an upward swing he disarmed the man with the pistol. The shot went off in the air and harmlessly missed the princess. The pistol went flying before landing in the mud, and the man who had it was cut down with a single thrust to his heart by Richter’s sword. He turned to Cerise and Juste as more men charged at him armed with sabers and pikes. “Get the princess into her carriage!”

Cerise and Juste were about to do just that when they saw three men armed with muskets blocking their path. At such range the men wouldn’t miss.

Well, they shouldn’t but that would have been if Juste wasn’t there. The man in red drew out both his rapiers, the blade in his right hand was a long blade while the one in his left hand had a much shorter one, and moving in a way that could only be described as dancing with his blades, he disarmed the three men before they could fire a shot. Having lost their main armament the three men took off running and Juste ushered the princess to get into her carriage where she would have some form of safety. Better than being out in the open, Juste thought.

“Ladies, we need to go, now,” he said rather calmly in the face of danger. Common for Juste.

The driver had long since run for his life, but that was minor as it turned out. “I’ll drive! Get inside princess!” Cerise climbed into the driver’s seat as Sophia was helped, more like pushed, into the carriage by Juste.

Meanwhile Cerise had to deal with a farmer armed with a pike but she struck him down with precise skill. She didn’t kill him though, and he cradled his bleeding arm as he ran away. With that out of the way she grabbed the reins and once she heard the door shut on the carriage she snapped them down. The horses got going without any further trouble.

That left Juste and Richter behind, but they were not in as much trouble as one would worry. That was because while Richter took out anyone foolish enough to attack him Juste had an idea. One of the food carts that had been cleaned out was still sitting in its spot and so he got it rolling and urged his captain to get in the back.

Gun shots were going off in every direction and Juste’s coat showed evidence of at least a half dozen close calls to his upper body, but the two were able to get in the cart and dash to safety leaving a trail of rioters fruitlessly chasing after them armed with torches and pikes.

It took all of thirty minutes for the two carts to make it to the palace of Versailles, where the King and his queen stood in shock as the carriage and cart came to a stop before the steps leading into the palace.

Cerise was shamelessly dirty after that mad dash to safety, and she tried to make herself presentable as a makeshift driver of a carriage and let the princess out of the carriage. It didn’t help her image as her hat had been lost in that scuffle. 

On a somewhat humorous note Juste managed to get the cart to come to a stop before they ran into the royal carriage. Richter rolled out of the back and managed to straighten his coat out though he couldn’t hide the smell of gunpowder sticking to him like cologne.

The princess came out of the carriage, her hair a complete mess but she smiled up at her older brother and performed a quick curtsy, “Your Majesty.” Her three guards got in line and got down on bended knee before the king of the kingdom of France.

King Louis XVI could only blink in response, “I thought you said you were going out for some exercise, sister?”

“I think we all got more than what we were expecting, Your Majesty,” said Cerise who remained on her knee, and while Richter kept a straight face Juste couldn’t hold back his chuckle after having such excitement.


End file.
